At EDF, unions are chasing inflation

Because the employees were working “Industrial Recovery” EDF, electricians’ inter-union demands, salary increase for 2024 “until the job is done” These past months. In a press release published on Thursday January 18, its four representative unions (CFE-CGC, CGT, CFDT, FO) called for a strike on Tuesday, January 30.

A way of “Remind management that without employees at work, there is no production of wealth”. The idea then would not be to deprive French households of power, but to hit the finances of public groups, for example by closing nuclear sites. In recent days, workers have already blocked the restart of two units, one at the Croiss-Meyse power plant (Ardeche) and the other at the Bugey plant (Ain).

This new social struggle also reminds us that, in this region as elsewhere, inflation is still part of the landscape. For several years, the Consumer Price Index has been rising above the Basic National Salary in the electricity and gas industry sector, a type of index point on which the remuneration of around 64,000 EDF SA employees in the country depends. Hence a “Historical Regression of Their Purchasing Power”.Specifically mentioned in the press release from 2021.

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For 2024, across the region, the general increase for basic national pay will be 2%. For this, the management of the company has planned to give increment of 0.64% linked to seniority and 1.5% on individual basis on case-by-case basis. This is too low, according to Inter-Union, which on January 8 refused to sign the agreement in these terms.

“Individual measures more or less robust”

The January 18 press release refrains from specifying the percentage desired by employee unions. After being contacted, the CFE-CGC indicated that it has started mandatory annual negotiations with a 4% individual increase target in December 2023. CGT is pushing for an additional collective increase, on the order of 4.6%, in addition to what has already been obtained at branch level. Also for a personal increase of 2.3%.

To justify its position, EDF management says it expects inflation to decline. According to projections by the Banque de France, consumer prices will rise by around 2.5% for 2024 – compared to an average of 5.2% in 2022 and 4.9% in 2023.

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On the inter-union side, given the benefits expected for 2023, organizations want to both cover expected inflation and capture the smaller share of previous years. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, the overall price index has increased by more than 23% since 2010.

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